The May 1-3 performances will feature a different married theatre couple performing the roles of Andrew Makepeace Ladd III and Melissa Gardner each night. The professional acting couples include Michele McConnell and Duane McDevitt (May 1), Jennifer Vaden and Bob Barth (May 2) and Catherine Brunell and Christopher Peterson (May 3).
In a statement Skyline Theatre Company managing artistic director Sam Scalamoni said, "Who better to read a love story than two people really in love? This will be a beautiful evening of theatre and a great celebration of New Jersey arts!"
Love Letters, according to production notes, "chronicles a relationship solely through written correspondence. The story is about Andrew Makepeace Ladd III and Melissa Gardner whose poignantly funny friendship and ill-fated romance takes them from second grade through adolescence and then into maturity and middle age." The work premiered at Connecticut's Long Wharf Theatre in 1989 with Joanna Gleason and John Rubenstein and has been performed all around the world. Laura Linney and Steven Weber starred in a television version of the play.
Michele McConnell was recently seen as Carlotta in the Westchester Broadway Theatre's mounting of Phantom, and Duane McDevitt played Cholet in that production.
Bob Barth has been seen Off-Broadway in Treaty 321! A Musical and at the McCarter Theatre in A Christmas Carol; Jennifer Vaden played Evelyn Nesbit in the national tour of Ragtime and Grizabella in the German production of Cats. Catherine Brunell has been seen on Broadway in Big River, Thoroughly Modern Millie and Les Misérables; Christopher Mark Peterson was seen on Broadway in Les Misérables and is now Director of After-School Programs at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ.
A.R. Gurney's plays include The Dining Room, The Cocktail Party, The Perfect Party, Another Antigone, A Cheever Evening, Sylvia, Ancestral Voices and Buffalo Gal. He is the recipient of a Drama Desk Award, a Rockefeller Award and two Lucille Lortel Awards.
The Hermitage is located at 335 N. Franklin Turnpike in Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ. A wine and cheese reception will follow each performance. For tickets, priced $30 (adults) and $20 (students), call (800) 474-1299.
For more information visit www.skylinetheatrecompany.org.
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The Skyline Theatre Company, Bergen County's professional theatre company, "brings the quality of New York City to Bergen County. STC strives to entertain audiences by providing a place for theatregoers to discover fun and moving performances that inspire laughter and tears."
